We hear all the time that science fiction inspires scientific work, from satellite technology to genetic engineering. But can science fiction actually teach science to the uninitiated? Authors like Neal Stephenson and Nancy Kress have used their novels to explain astrophysics and biology respectively; Ursula Le Guin's novels feature participant observer anthropologists, while Greg Egan's characters are notorious for delivering science lectures. It may be fun, but are we actually learning anything?